PT Dissecting the Opening Battle Sequence in ROTS

Contrary to what the title suggests, I'm not going to write a thesis on the opening battle sequence. I don't have the time. This thread allows us to share our observations and get any questions we might have addressed.


1. In the very beginning, the camera follows Anakin and Obi-Wan as they weave around, doing stylistic acrobatic maneuvers - all in sync. How is that possible? Their ships were mere feet from each other but each faithfully flew in that complicated pattern in tandem with the other..never colliding. Was it the Force? The R2 units?


2. At the 2:54 mark (and maybe 2:51 as well) we see a good guy ship laser and detonate a bad guy ship that was lazily idling by several hundred feet away. How did they get so close together in the first place and why did the Republic ship wait until that moment to attack? Was the ship in fact dead already and the 'attack' was merely to get it out of the way or prevent it from being salvaged?




Again, feel free to ask questions or make observations!

 

I thought I once read that there was a kitchen sink put in as a joke, but I've never noticed it. Where exactly is that?

 

I can't see the image.

 

1. I believe that it was mostly the force, because you're right, they were weaving around to much to not hit each other. I think the R2 units are there to make hyperspace calculations mostly.

2. The Covenant fleet did pop out of hyperspace as a sneak attack on Coruscant, so it is possible that the ships ended up right next to each other, but otherwise no it does not make sense why they were so close.

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

1. "Mostly", perhaps. But the astromech units -- Anakin has an R2 unit, Obi-Wan an R4 unit -- clearly do augment main piloting functions, too. In this sequence, for instance, R4 steers the ship and Obi-Wan reacts, "Alright, R4. No, no, nothing too fancy!"

2. A number of reasons to speculate upon, but one may be that the ships are trying to penetrate each other's shields, by either puncturing an outer layer of shielding or simply allowing their firepower to have a more concentrated, accumulative effect. There may also be a tussle over hyperspace lanes (i.e., the ships are literally blocking the safest, most convenient patches of real space which a big ship would normally use to jump to lightspeed).

 

dolphin...they are both Jedi...so yeah...it was the Force.

 

I assume that it happens in the same way that Vader's TIE wingmen stay exactly in formation in Ep.4. I assume it's their flight computer and/or R2 unit.

 

Now I'm not so sure. As Cryo mentions, Obi-Wan's cautions his droid not to get too fancy. As Yubnub says, there is precedence for non Force users to fly in perfect complicated formations.

 

Your explanation for #2 is VERY interesting. This could be maneuvering to block hyperspace lanes. The positioning is not so much for the enemy that you see but the enemy you can't see (yet).

 

After the crawl the movie opens with a giant lens flare. I'm convinced this was Lucas layering in a hint who would direct Episode 7.

 

THANKS!

Weirdly, hyperspace lanes are never mentioned in any of the films, but I think they might be part of the EU, and their being contested with battles, blockades, and so forth, makes a lot of sense. This could be considered another resonance between TPM and ROTS. In Ep. I, Naboo was ringed with TF ships clustering together to seemingly make hyperspace travel to and from a remote planet difficult; in Ep. III, this blockading mentality has now reached the galactic capital, with some of the same ships involved, but with the conflict now enlarged to include massive cruisers and fighter squadrons: all-out war.

 

Those missiles — are the buzz droids a contingency in case they miss their target, or are they designed to dispatch droids anyway and not explode? It seems impractical If it's the latter.

 

I like it when Anakin and Obi-Wan are traveling over the Star Destroyer (or whatever it was called back then) and we don't see anything else but when they start down we see a battle raging.

 

Yea, that's a great shot..especially in IMAX.

 

Not in the films important enough to get a roman numeral - I-VI - but they were mentioned in the TCW film.